MarginaliaAn. 1554. Nouember.vntil he had made an ende of his Oration. The tenour and wordes wherof here foloweth.

MarginaliaNouemb. 28.
Cardinall Pooles Oration in the Parlament house.MY Lordes all, and you that are the Commons of this present Parlament assembled, which in effect is nothyng els but the state & body of the whole realme, as the cause of my repayre hether hath bene both wysely and grauely declared by my Lord Chauncellour, so before that I enter to the particularities of my Commission, I haue somewhat touching my self, and to geue most humble and harty thankes to the Kyng and Queenes Maiesties, and after them to you all, which of a man exiled & banished from thys common wealth, haue restored me to a member of the same, and of a man hauyng no place, neyther here or elswhere wythin thys realme, haue admitted me in place where to speake & to be heard. Thys I protest vnto you all, that though I was exiled my natiue coūtry wythout iust cause, as God knoweth, yet the ingratitude could not pull from me the affection and desyre that I had to profyt and do you good. If the offer of my seruice myght haue bene receyued, it was neuer to seeke: and where that could not be taken, you neuer fayled of my prayer, nor neuer shall.

But leauyug the rehearsall thereof, &comming more neare to the matter of my Commission, I signifye vnto you all, that my principall trauayle is, for the restitution of this noble Realme to the auncient Nobilitie, & to declare vnto you, that the Sea Apostolicke from whence I come, MarginaliaMore for the vauntage that was hoped by it, the for any great loue.hath a speciall respect to thys Realme aboue all other, and not without cause, seyng that God hymselfe, as it were by prouidence, hath geuen thys Realme prerogatiue of Nobilitye aboue other, which to make more playne vnto you, MarginaliaEngland of all Ilandes receaued first the faith of Christ.it is to be considered that thys Iland, fyrst of all Ilandes receyued the lyght of Christes religion. For as stories testify, it was prima prouinciarum quæ amplexa est fidem Christi.

For the Britons beyng fyrst inhabitauntes of thys Realme (notwithstanding the subiection of the Emperours and Heathen Princes) dyd receiue Christes faith from the Apostolike Sea vniuersally, and not in partes as other Coūtreyes, not by one and one, as Clockes encrease theyr houres by distinction of times, but altogether at once, as it were in a moment. But after that their ill merites or forgetfulnes of God had deserued expulsion, and that Straungers being Infidels had possessed this land, yet God of hys goodnes, not leauing where he once loued, so illuminated the hartes of the Saxons being Heathen mē, that they forsooke the darknes of Heathen errours, and embraced the light of Christes religion. So that within small space, idolatry and heathen superstition was vtterly abandoned in this Iland.

Thys was a great prerogatiue of Nobilitie, whereof though the benefite bee to bee ascribed to God: yet the meane occasion of the same came from the *Marginalia* That the fayth of Britaines came first from Rome, neyther doth it stand with the circumstance of our stories: neither if it so did, yet that faith & doctrine of the Romanistes was not such then as it is now. Read afore pag. 145. Church of Rome. In the fayth of whith church, we haue euer since continued and consented wth the rest of the world in vnity of Religion. And to shew further the feruent deuo of the Inhabitauntes of this Iland towards the church of Rome, wee read that diuers Princes in the Saxons tyme with great trauayle and expenses went personally to Rome, as MarginaliaOf thys Offa read before pag. 173.Offa and Aldulphus, which thought it not ynough to shew them selues obedient to the sayd Sea, vnlesse that in theyr own persōs they had gone to the same place from whence they had receiued so great a grace and benefit.

In the tyme of Carolus Magnus, who fyrst founded the Vniuersity of Paris, he sent into England for MarginaliaOf Alcuinus read before pag. 173. col. 1.Alcuinus a great learned man, which fyrst brought learning to that Vuiuersitie. Whereby it semeth that the greatest part of the world fet the lyght of religion from England.

Adrian the fourth being an English man, conuerted Norway from infidelity, which Adrian afterwards, vpon great affection and loue that he bare to this Realme, being hys natiue country, gaue to Henry the second king of England, the ryght & segniory of the dominion of Ireland, which pertayned to the Sea of Rome.

I wyll not rehearse the manifold benefites that thys Realme hath receaued from the Apostolicke Sea, MarginaliaNay, rather what riches and treasures the Sea of Rome hath suckt out of England it is incredible.nor how ready the same hath bene to relieue vs in al our necessities. Nor I will not rehearse the manifold miseries and calamities, that this realme hath suffered by swaruyng from that vnity. And euen as in this realme, so in

all other coūtreyes, which refusing the vnity of the Catholike fayth haue folowed fantasticall doctrine, the lyke plagues haue happened. Let Asia and the Empyre of Grece be a spectacle vnto þ^e world, who by swaruing frō the vnity of the Church of Rome, are brought into captiuity, and *Marginalia* The cause of their subiection to the Turke, can not be proued to come by swaruing from the vnitie of the Church of Rome, for they were neuer fully ioyned vnto it. And as touching the subiectiō of Asia and Grecia to the Turkes, read in the story of the Turkes before pag. 871. subiectiō of the Turke. Al stories be full of like examples. And to come vnto the latter tyme, looke vpon our nigh neyghbours of Germany, who by swaruyng from thys vnity, are miserably afflicted wyth diuersitye of sectes, and diuided in factions.

What shall I rehearse vnto you the tumultes and effusion of bloud, that hath happened there of late daies? Or trouble you wyth the rehearsal of those plagues, that haue happened synce this innouation of religion, whereof you haue felt the bytternes, and I haue heard the report? Of all which matters I can say no more, but such was the misery of the time. And see how farre forth this fury went. For those that liue vnder þ^e *Marginalia* And why then do ye, more cruell then the Turke, persecute other for their conscience? Turke, may freely liue after their conscience: & so was it not lawfull here.

If men examine well vpon what groundes these innouations began, they shall well finde, that the roote of thys, as of many other mischiefes, was auarice: and that the lust and carnall affection of one mā, confounded all lawes, both diuine and humaine. And notwythstandyng all these deuises and policies practised wythin this Realme agaynst the church of Rome, they needed not to haue lost you, but that they thought rather as frendes to reconcile you, then as enemies to infest you. For they wanted not great offers of the most mighty Potentates in all Europe to haue ayded the Church in that quarel. †Marginalia† Would God all mē would well marke the sequele, what commeth of auarice, carnall affection, & worldly policie in your kingdome. Then marke the sequele. There semed by these chaūges to ryse a great face of ryches and gayne, which in proufe came to great misery and lacke. See how God then can confound the wisedome of the wise, and turne vniust policie to mere folly, and that thyng that semed to be done for reliefe, was cause of playne ruine and decay. Yet see that goodnes of God, which at no tyme fayled vs, but most benignlye offered hys grace, when it was of our partes least sought, and worst deserued.

And when all lyght of true religion semed vtterly extinct, as the Churches defaced, the aultars ouerthrowen, the Ministers corrupted: euē lyke as in a lampe the light being couered, yet it is not quenched, euen so in a few remayned the confession of Christes fayth, namely in the brest of the Queenes excellency, of whom to speake with out adulation, the saying of the Prophet may be verifyed: Ecce quasi derelicta.

And see how miraculously God of hys goodnes preserued her highnes, contrary to the expectation of man, that when numbers conspired against her, and policies were deuised to disherite her, and armed power prepared to destroy her, yet she beyng a Vyrgin, helples, naked and vnarmed, preuayled, and had the victory of Tyrauntes, whch is not to bee ascribed to any *Marginalia* What policy is this to make promise to get strēgth and then to breake it as the Queene dyd? policy of man, but to the almighty great goodnes and prouidence of God, to whom the honour is to be geuen. And therefore it may be sayd: Da gloriam Deo. For in mans iudgement, on her Graces part, was nothyng in appearance, but despayre.

And yet for all these practises & deuises of ill mē, here you see her grace established in her estate, beyng your lawful Queene & Gouernesse, borne among you, whom God hath appoynted to raygne ouer you for the restitution of true religion, and extirpation of all errours and sectes. And to confyrme her Grace the more strongly in thys enterprise, loe how the prouidence of God hath ioyned her in mariage wyth a Prince of lyke religion, who beyng a Kyng of great myght, armour, and force, yet vseth towardes you neyther armour nor force, but seeketh you by the way of loue and amitie: in whch respecte great cause you haue to geue thankes to almighty God, that hath sent you such catholicke Gouernours. It shall be therfore your part agayne, to loue, obey, & serue them.

And as it was a singular fauour of God to conioyne them in mariage: so it is not to be doubted, but that hee shall send them *Marginalia* The Cardinall here appeareth to be a false Prophet. issue, for the comfort and surety of thys common wealth. Of all Princes in Europe, the Emperour hath trauayled most in the cause of religion, as it appeareth by hys actes in Germany: yet happely by some secrete iudgement of God, he hath not atchieued the end. With whom in my iourney hetherwardes I had conference touching my Legation, whereof when he had vnderstanding, he shewed great appearance of most earnest ioy and gladnes, saying, that it reioyced him no lesse of the reconcilement of this Realme vnto Christian vnity,